Mayor Haslam Announces New Deputy Director

Communications Director

Mayor Haslam Announces New Deputy Director

Posted: 01/16/2007

Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam announced today that Madeleine R. Weil has begun work as deputy director of policy development for the City of Knoxville where she will concentrate on downtown development. Weil, 29, previously worked as a policy analyst for Environment Northeast, a non-profit organization in New Haven, Ct., focusing on state and regional energy policies.Prior to that she was an environmental planner with the City of New Haven where she coordinated the city's energy and air quality programs.In those roles Weil authored several articles for publication and made presentations at numerous conferences.Weil succeeds Jill Van Beke, who has served as deputy director since 2005.
Van Beke, who joined the city in 2003, has accepted a position with a private firm.As part of her duties Weil will coordinate downtown development activities and serve as the city's point-of-contact for residents, businesses, organizations and government agencies involved in downtown."We are very happy that Madeleine Weil is joining us," said Bill Lyons, the city's senior director for policy development. "I look forward to working with her on downtown and its connection to adjoining neighborhoods.""She brings a wealth of experience to the job and will be a great asset to the city," he added.Weil, who grew up in Missouri, has a bachelor's degree in American Studies from Carleton College in Northfield, MN. She also has a master's degree in environmental management from the Yale University School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.She and her husband, Bob Morrissey, an assistant professor of history at the University of Tennessee, reside in the Island Home neighborhood.